“Morning!” Reina handed her a mug and pushed a plate her way.
Kyra didn’t have to ask what was in the mug but there was something slimy on her plate that was highly suspect. “What is on that plate?”
“Eggs, silly!” Reina frowned and turned away to pour another cup of coffee for herself.
“Those do not look like eggs,” Kyra critiqued.
“Then don’t eat them.” Reina sipped at her coffee and ignored the criticism.
“So, I’m eating. There was something about messages?” Kyra just wanted to get this all over with. She felt like the outsider at a slumber party.
“Yeah, Sam left several messages.” Bree nodded and detached herself from Liv to hand Kyra her phone. “He’s desperate and it sounds like the assholes are making their move at the fundraiser.”
Kyra listened to the voicemail, cringing at the desperation in her assistant’s voice. Poor guy, he sounded so stressed, so frustrated. By the third message, Kyra swore he was crying. Poor Sam. Shit. Something was sliding down her cheek. Kyra wiped at her face and came away with a streak of tears.
“See, you care.” Liv leaned in, hand on her shoulder. “Your life isn’t over. Let us help you get it back.”
Kyra frowned into her mug. “Why do I feel like this?”
“It’s the emotions.” Liv agreed. “They’re the worst part and the hardest to get a hang of. Feeling a little blue turns into hardcore depression in no time. That’s why we had to get you moving, had to get you feeling something else.”
“So I wasn’t really suicidal?” Kyra asked, somewhat hopefully.
“Nope.” Liv grinned. “Just a side effect.”
“It didn’t feel like a side effect.” Kyra grumbled into her mug, even though she did feel better.
“You’ll get the hang of it soon enough. We’ll work on it.” Liv assured her. “You’re lucky, Kyra. You have two friends who are willing to stand by you. Not everybody gets that.”
“Yeah, be grateful for us.” Reina laughed. “We love you, K.”
“Even when you ruin a perfectly fine dinner at a restaurant,” Bree interjected with a smirk.
“Oh shit! The restaurant! What happened with that?” Kyra bumped the heel of her hand to her forehead.
“Nothing.” Bree answered, “They got mad about Heidi’s face so I quit. It was time to move on anyway.”
“What!” Kyra exclaimed, “Bree, you just started that job.”
“So? It wasn’t meant to be.” Bree shrugged. “Besides, you’re gonna need my help this week if you are going to fix Sam’s mess, pull that fundraiser together by Friday evening, and take down your asshole bosses. We’ve been talking about everything you’ve told us and we have a plan.”
“Okay, so you have a plan but I’m wondering about the most basic thing - how am I supposed to get to work?” Kyra changed topic, feeling oddly motivated again.
“Oh! We’ve got that all worked out with Liv.” Reina sounded a bit too gleeful. “We’ll get you ready and get you there early. Nobody will question you getting to work before it opens after being off for a week.”
“And I will swing by with your ‘lunch’ around midday,” Bree continued. “You can hire me on to help out with the fundraiser and I can run all of your ‘daylight’ errands. Nobody will even notice.”
“Okay, but what about at work? How do I avoid the sun? There’s a thousand windows in that place.”
“That’s a little trickier, but we were thinking that you must have loads of things to catch up on within the safety of your office. By then, the next part of our plan will come into play.” Reina hesitated, “what if you work from the room where the gala is held and cover all of the windows as part of the event?”
“What? How is that going to happen? What theme could I possibly use to pull that off?”
“It’s already been covered, in a manner of speaking,” Liv interjected. “Never underestimate the power of art.”
“What she means is that we already sent word to Sam about a slight change of plans,” Reina continued. “By Tuesday evening the large hall will be covered in white-out fabric from floor to ceiling in preparation for the film you’ll be showing.”
“I may have some lost footage of artists that many would pay to view.” Liv shrugged, “it’s just sitting in storage and I have no real use for it now. We can project them onto the separate panels like individual movies. I know Warhol is in that collection but there are others as well. It should work.”
“Why would you do that?” Kyra breathed.
“Because, you need help,” Liv replied simply. “I told you I would help and I keep my word. We are connected now, by blood and by friendship. It is the way of our kind.”
“You wouldn’t think so the way your boss treated me.”
“I assure you, Patton will come around.” Liv sounded certain. “He’s not as hard as he seems.”
“Indeed.” Kyra didn’t believe her, no matter how helpful she was being. Patton was a grade A asshole and nothing was going to convince her otherwise, not even that little voice in the back of her mind that kept remembering flashes of their night together and how he made her feel when she was near him.
Kyra pushed the thoughts out of her head, she had bigger things to worry about. “Alright then, let’s get this circus on the road.”
“Great!” Reina ran over to the couch and held up a garment bag, “here’s the dress I picked up for you to wear to work today.”
“I don’t need a new dress for work.” Kyra frowned. “I don’t even wear dresses to work.”
“Today you do.” Reina replied. “You’re going to look amazing and give those asshole bosses something to really worry about. It’s all part of the plan, Kyra.”
Chapter 7
“I still don’t see why I can’t wear pants.” Kyra complained from the back seat of the cab. “I’m still not sure about this plan of yours.”
“You can, tomorrow.” Reina retorted. “Today you will rock that dress and make a real statement. It’s all a part of the plan, Kyra.”
“But it’s just not me.” Kyra muttered.
“It is today.” Reina growled. “Honestly, stop arguing and just deal. You look amazing. It’s not like I forced you into something slutty. It’s classy.”
“It costs more than my whole wardrobe put together. They’re going to know something is up,” Kyra pleaded, though she knew it would fall on deaf ears. They’d already had the argument twice and she lost both times.
Reina frowned. “It does not. Besides, we’ve been over this, you have to be different today. You are returning from a forced vacation. You’ve changed and you are on a mission. Give them something to talk about besides the obvious changes to your appearance.”
Kyra looked out the window. “I get it, Rey.” She knew it made sense but she still felt self-conscious, professional or not, it remained a very expensive, highly impractical dress.
“K, you’re going to be brilliant.” Reina reassured her as the cab pulled up to the museum. “Bree will stop by around eleven to bring your lunch. If you need something before then, you know how to reach us. Just walk in, greet Mary at the desk and go back to your office. Nobody is going to be surprised to see you here early after a week off – and if they are, they’ll be so surprised by the sight of you in that dress that it won’t matter anymore.”
Kyra didn’t respond, she slid out the door of the cab and made for the employee entrance on the side. The sky was beginning to show signs of the sun and she longed to wait for just a peek but Reina yelled at her to get inside. It probably would not do for her to catch fire on her first day back.
Kyra swiped her employee badge over the security pad, waited for the door to unlock and pulled it open. She slipped in and closed the door behind her. The museum smelled the same. No, it smelled better. All of the things she’d loved about it before seemed amplified by her heightened senses. The hall looked brighter, though half the exit signs were still out. It smelled musty and ol
d with undertones of the industrial grade cleaning supplies the janitors used.
She slipped past Ron and his mop cart with a quick nod of acknowledgement. Ron’s eyes flicked toward her, gave a once over, paused at her chest and then back to scrubbing at the handle to the men’s room. Kyra could hear every word of the country ballad crooning through Ron’s earbuds. Huh, she never took him for a country guy.
Mary sat behind the security desk, her hair pulled back in its usual severe bun, eyes trained on the monitors before her. Kyra never understood what the woman could be watching so intently with less than a handful of people in the building. Yet there she sat, focused as ever.
“Hello, Mary.” Kyra practically whispered. She stepped up to the desk, fidgeted with her briefcase, and plastered on an awkward smile.
Mary looked up, then back at her monitors, then she did a double take. “Kyra?” The incredulity shouldn’t have been so insulting, but it was.
“Yep.” Kyra tried to sound nonchalant. “I’m back from vacation.”
“You should take vacation more often, you look fantastic.” Mary scrutinized every visible inch of Kyra, her eyes wider and wider with every passing minute.
“Er, thanks.” Kyra had to break the awkward moment, “so I’m just going to head back to my office and see what’s what. Sam left me a ton of messages so it sounds like I’ve got my work cut out for me.” She tacked on a nervous laugh for good measure.
That did the trick. Mary snapped out of it and beamed at Kyra, “it’s good to have you back.”
Nobody at the museum had ever said anything like that to her. Reina must have been right about the dress. Kyra walked the maze-like route to her office as quietly as possible just in case one of her colleagues had also decided on an early morning, but the museum remained mercifully quiet.
Thankfully, Sam locked up her office, if he’d used it at all. She entered the code and opened the door to the biggest mess she’d ever seen. Holy shit. No wonder Sam left it locked. What had he done to her office? Her one safe space in the museum. Kyra growled at the stacks of posters, giant reams of cloth, and worst of all, piles of fast food bags and wrappers.
Not that she was a neat freak, but this place looked like a hoarder had taken up residence. Then the realization hit her, those bastards did this. Most of the boxes were empty, Sam could not have consumed this much junk in a week, and the posters belonged around town promoting the event which Sam would have known. The longer she stood in the middle of her ruined office, the better – and more confident -Kyra felt about the plan.
Heavy breathing and footsteps in the hall disrupted what likely would have been a spectacular blow-up but Kyra held it in as Sam burst into the office, red-faced and sweating. “Oh my God, Kyra, I am so sorry about this. I thought I would have it all cleaned up before you came in but then things got out of control and I didn’t have time to do anything because I kept getting called out to the floor and…” Sam blathered on with his excuses and apologies until Kyra couldn’t take it for another second.
“Sam.” Kyra felt a scream build in her throat but forced it back down. “Sam, enough. Let’s just get it cleaned up and move on. We have a lot to do before Friday.”
“Y-y-yes. Okay.” Sam stuttered, surprised. “I thought you would fire me.”
“No. I’m not going to fire you.” Kyra sighed. “I can only imagine how you were treated while I was gone.” She stepped over a pile of mail and side stepped an awkward stack of boxes to get to her desk. Her bosses were assholes - she’d get even with them, not Sam.
“Kyra?” Sam began feverishly picking up the fast food wrappers.
“Yeah, Sam?” Kyra almost feared what he would say.
“You look incredible.” Sam paused, “I missed you but whatever you did while you were off – well, it worked for you.”
Kyra peered around the stack of boxes. Her assistant grinned at her approvingly. “Thanks, Sam.”
They worked in silence after that. Kyra almost forgot how much she liked Sam. He worked diligently and didn’t feel the need to fill the quiet with mindless chatter. They’d practically restored the office to its former glory by the time the rest of the staff began to filter in. Kyra didn’t want to deal with her coworkers yet, she needed to be composed and she didn’t feel it yet, “Sam, lock the door.”
To his credit, Sam slipped over to the door and shut it quietly, the click only audible to Kyra. “Could we just hide in here all day?”
Kyra laughed, the thought had crossed her mind. “No. We have too much to do.”
“I’m sorry, Kyra. I tried. I really did. But every time I made some progress something else would happen. Either Bill would need something or Kevin would request that I go check on an order because his assistant was too busy.” Poor Sam had no idea how badly her bosses wanted her gone. They used him.
“Sam, they did that on purpose.” Kyra settled in her chair and gestured for him to sit across from her. “Bill and Kevin are trying to force me out. My vacation was not exactly voluntary. They truly want to run this museum into the ground, sell what they can and retire somewhere warm – together.”
“Wait. What?” Sam’s eyes bugged out of his head.
“Yeah. My week off was payback for discovering their salacious affair.” Kyra remembered it all too well. She pieced together their plan to destroy the museum several months ago but it didn’t make sense until that night.
“But why would that matter to you?” Sam didn’t get it.
“It doesn’t matter to me at all, but, I think their wives would be more than a little disappointed.” Kyra snickered as her revelation hit home.
“Oh. Oh shit.” Sam turned eight shades of red as he processed everything. “That explains so very much.”
“Yep.” Kyra nodded. “So, it absolutely was not your fault. They wanted a reason to get rid of me and simultaneously ruin the fundraiser so they can truly cash out and ride off into the sunset.”
“Wow.” Sam sat back in his chair. “So we are going to make this fundraiser a success.”
“Yep.” Kyra grinned devilishly, “and take down Bill and Kevin while we’re at it.”
“What happened to you last week?” Sam shook his head, incredulous at his boss’s new attitude.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Sam.” Kyra smiled to herself. She had to admit, it felt good having Sam on her side. Maybe this insane idea would actually work?
***
“Bree is late.” Kyra tapped at her desk impatiently. The hunger Liv had warned her about was building and she wasn’t about to feast on Sam.
“Do you want me to call her again?” Sam refused to leave the office until Bree arrived – just in case Bill or Kevin or one of their minions happened along.
“She’ll be here,” Kyra affirmed, her friends didn’t let her down. “Go ahead and grab your own lunch and swing by that new bakery to see if they would be up for providing cupcakes on Friday. Let’s keep this as fresh as possible. We need new partners so Bill and Kevin can’t interfere.”
“If you’re sure you’ll be okay,” Sam trailed off.
“Sam, you’re practically drooling over the food wrappers in the garbage. I’ve been worried I would have to peel you out of the trash bag.” Kyra grinned. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
Hesitantly, Sam got out of the chair and left. He looked back once before shutting the door behind him – even took the trash bag with him. Kyra admired their work. Her office looked much as it had before her vacation except for the fundraising posters and rolls of black-out fabric occupying the far corner normally reserved for new collections. She looked at the stack of paperwork and passed it over for the pile of RSVPs for Friday’s gala.
Kyra flicked on her computer and pulled up the spreadsheet. She opened the first several envelopes, mostly confirming they would attend. Kyra noted acceptances from a lot of generous patrons – it gave her hope for a successful event. She made it halfway through the stack before somebody knocked on the door.
Kyra dropped a half-opened envelope and strode across the room. She opened it to find a sheepish Bree with a thermos in one hand, three shopping bags in the other and an envelope in her mouth. Kyra took the envelope and let her friend in, shutting and locking the door behind them.
“I’m so, so, so sorry, Kyra.” Bree fussed even as she dropped the bags on the floor and plopped in Sam’s chair to open the thermos. “I tried to get some errands run before I came here – just in case you needed me to stay around today. It just took so much longer than I anticipated.”
“It’s fine, Bree.” Kyra accepted the cup from Bree and gulped it down. She passed it back for Bree to refill it. “Sam just left, we had quite the mess to clean up this morning. I’m just hungry now.”
“How bad was it?” Bree pulled a smaller bag out of one of the shopping totes and began munching on a greasy burger from the food stand across the street. It smelled amazing.
“The office or the hunger?” Kyra asked.
“Both.” Bree managed with a mouthful of burger.
“Pretty bad.” Kyra watched each bite Bree took from the burger. “Could I try a bite of that?”
Bree grinned, “I got you one, too.” She reached in the bag and pulled out another one to toss it at Kyra who caught it deftly. “Liv said you would be up for some meat.”
“Mmhmm.” Kyra bit into the burger, complete with mushrooms and Swiss cheese. It might be one of the most delicious things she’d ever eaten in her life.
“Now that you are onto meat again, we need to hit up some steakhouses.” Bree took another bite, clearly amused.
“So, Liv’s pretty great, huh?” Kyra probed.
“Don’t go there, K.” Bree warned.
“Got something against us blood-suckers?” Kyra teased and gulped down the last of her burger.
Bitten By The Bad Boy: A Bad Boy Vampire Romance Page 6
